Melania Trump: 10 things you need to know about America’s 45th First Lady

Beautiful Melania Trump is a Slovene-American former model who is married to American businessman and President of the United States, Donald Trump. Born in Slovenia, she became a permanent resident of the United States in 2001 and a citizen in 2006.

When she assumes the role of First Lady of the United States on January 20, 2017, she will become the second foreign-born First Lady of the United States, following Louisa Adams in 1825.

It’s not every day that a woman born in a very small town in a not-so-popular country goes on to become First Lady of the United States so it’s understandable that the people of Melania Trump’s home country, Slovenia, are throwing a very big party today to celebrate one of theirs.

The celebration will include admission and tours, the main event will be an inauguration viewing party at Rotary klub Sevnica.

There will also be free dinner for everyone at the local inn, through a voluntary $40 would be accepted for buying new equipment for the Sevnica Hospital ER.

The meal will be a mix of Slovenian and American cuisine to celebrate Melania and Trump’s combined heritage.

Aside Melania Trump’s home country throwing big party to celebrate one of theirs becoming the First Lady of the United States, there are 10 things women should know about this unassuming first lady. Read them below.

1. She speaks five languages

Melania speaks Slovene, English, French, Serbian and German. That linguistic prowess could come in handy at White House functions, but it has been suggested her thick accent is the reason she makes few public speeches alongside her immigrant-bashing husband.

2. Melania is Donald’s third wife

The former Melania Knauss started dating Donald Trump in 1998, married him in 2005 and gave birth to their son, Barron, the following year. Before Melania, Donald was married for a few years in the 1990s to Marla Maples, a television personality, former beauty queen and mother to their daughter Tiffany Trump.

The couple met while the businessman was still with his first wife, Czechoslovakian Ivana Zelnickova, who he had married in 1977. They have three children – Ivanka, Eric and eldest child Donald Trump Jr, who, at 38, is eight years younger than his stepmother Melania.

Ivana and Donald were leading socialites in New York during the 1980s, but their marriage ended with a very public divorce in 1992.

3. She refused to give Trump her number

The real estate mogul asked Melania for her number at a party in New York in 1998 – and she said no.

Melania, then 28, was there at the invitation of Paolo Zampolli, the Italian businessman who set her up as a model in the US. The property tycoon – future husband Donald, then a notorious playboy – had arrived with another woman, but he sent her to the bathroom so he could chat up the model.

4. Hillary Clinton went to her wedding

Bill and Hillary Clinton were among the 350 guests when Melania and Donald tied the knot at the groom’s landmark Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Melania’s sister, Ines, was the maid of honour and Donald’s two sons, Donald Jr and Eric, served as best men.

5. Slovenians are very excited about her

Regardless of how they feel about her husband’s politics, the prospect of a Slovenian woman in the White House seems to have gone down well with her compatriots back home.

The excitement was most evident in Sevnica, a small, industrial town which has found new fame in recent months as the birthplace of the next First Lady.

A survey on the spouses and running mates of both presidential candidates saw Clinton’s husband, former president Bill, named most popular, with more than half of respondents having a positive opinion of him. Clinton’s prospective vice president, Tim Kaine, was next with a net favourability rating – those viewing him positively minus those viewing him negatively – of plus-19. Republican Mike Pence came in third, with plus-17, and Melania languished in last place, getting a net favourability rating of just plus-one.

7. She supports her husband’s hard line stance on immigration

Although it’s not surprising for a candidate’s wife to back her husband’s policies, some were taken aback by Melania’s enthusiasm for the Republican’s tough rhetoric on migrants, having immigrated to the US herself.

She was equally unfazed when pressed about Donald’s comments on “criminals” crossing the border into the US. “I don’t feel he insulted the Mexicans,” she said. “He said ‘illegal immigrants’.”

8. She wishes Donald would ‘act more presidential’

Melania insists she isn’t shy when it comes to giving her husband political advice. “I give him my opinions, many, many times,” she told CNN.

“I don’t agree with everything that he says but, you know, that is normal,” she added. “I’m my own person, I tell him what I think. I’m standing very strong on the ground on my two feet and I’m my own person. And I think that’s very important in the relationship.”

9. She thinks people should be nicer to one another

Melania, giving her first solo speech since the Republican convention, added: “It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other.”

10. She is raising her son as ‘Little Donald’

Ten-year-old Barron apparently loves wearing a suit and tie and playing golf with his dad. He is also said to share his father’s love of bossing people around.

“He is a very strong-minded, very special, smart boy. He is independent and opinionated and knows exactly what he wants. Sometimes I call him ‘Little Donald’. He is a mixture of us in looks, but his personality is why I call him Little Donald,” Melania told Parenting.com.

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